every time they take that football and it is a charlie brown episode where they jerked the ball away. this is what they are doing again. republicans have walked away from serious negotiations in the past three and half years. as soon as president obama was reelected, we started talking about the need to do something about the long-term financial security of this country. compromising takes encourage. walking away as they have done -- there is a small minority linda strings in the republican house. the tea party agenda not be further from the priorities of middle-class americans. there will come a time when the republicans will have to choose between the tea party and the american people. americans are clear about what they want. democrats, republicans, independents -- more than 60% of republicans believe that the rich should pay more. they want a balance when that combines smart spending cuts while asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share. they want us to protect the middle class from having 2200 tax increase come january 1 -- januaryx increase come 2 1. his so-called land be --